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CHAPTER XXVI . He beats me and I rail at him : O worthy satisfaction ! would it were otherwise — that I could beat him while he railed at me . — Troilus and Cressida . But Fred did not go to Stone Court the next day , for reasons that were quite peremptory . From those visits to unsanitary Houndsley streets in search of Diamond , he had brought back not only a bad bargain in horse - flesh , but the further misfortune of some ailment which for a day or two had deemed mere depression and headache , but which got so much worse when he returned from his visit to Stone Court that , going into the dining - room , he threw himself on the sofa , and in answer to his mother’s anxious question , said , “ I feel very ill : I think you must send for Wrench . ” Wrench came , but did not apprehend anything serious , spoke of a “ slight derangement , ” and did not speak of coming again on the morrow . He had a due value for the Vincys ’ house , but the wariest men are apt to be dulled by routine , and on worried mornings will sometimes go through their business with the zest of the daily bell - ringer . Mr . Wrench was a small , neat , bilious man , with a well - dressed wig : he had a laborious practice , an irascible temper , a lymphatic wife and seven children ; and he was already rather late before setting out on a four - miles drive to meet Dr . Minchin on the other side of Tipton , the decease of Hicks , a rural practitioner , having increased Middlemarch practice in that direction . Great statesmen err , and why not small medical men ? Mr . Wrench did not neglect sending the usual white parcels , which this time had black and drastic contents . Their effect was not alleviating to poor Fred , who , however , unwilling as he said to believe that he was “ in for an illness , ” rose at his usual easy hour the next morning and went down - stairs meaning to breakfast , but succeeded in nothing but in sitting and shivering by the fire . Mr . Wrench was again sent for , but was gone on his rounds , and Mrs . Vincy seeing her darling’s changed looks and general misery , began to cry and said she would send for Dr . Sprague . “ Oh , nonsense , mother ! It’s nothing , ” said Fred , putting out his hot dry hand to her , “ I shall soon be all right . I must have taken cold in that nasty damp ride . ” “ Mamma ! ” said Rosamond , who was seated near the window ( the dining - room windows looked on that highly respectable street called Lowick Gate ) , “ there is Mr . Lydgate , stopping to speak to some one . If I were you I would call him in . He has cured Ellen Bulstrode . They say he cures every one . ” Mrs . Vincy sprang to the window and opened it in an instant , thinking only of Fred and not of medical etiquette . Lydgate was only two yards off on the other side of some iron palisading , and turned round at the sudden sound of the sash , before she called to him . In two minutes he was in the room , and Rosamond went out , after waiting just long enough to show a pretty anxiety conflicting with her sense of what was becoming .
Назад Сторінка 195 з 637 Сторінка 195 з 637 Вперед Читайте далі з перекладом Створіть безкоштовний акаунт: 7 днів Pro, далі 20 перекладів слів на день або платний тариф.
